


Boundaries

by ThisFragileGame



Category: Hunger Games (2012) RPF, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Catching Fire, F/M, Real Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-10
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-22 22:26:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisFragileGame/pseuds/ThisFragileGame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh was perfectly okay with things the way they were. She was the one who blurred the lines in the first place. And now they're completely messed up, and tiptoeing boundaries, and he's wondering how he can have every part of her except one and still feel like it's not enough.</p><p>*Set during the filming of CF*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boundaries

**Author's Note:**

> Hammered this out in about four hours - it was around 2:30 a.m when I finished so I apologise for any mistakes because I'm pretty sure I was sleep-writing by then. I've had this idea for a while and couldn't get it out of my head so here it is. Hope you like.

Josh can't exactly remember how it all started.

When he tries to, he starts to feel unbearably dizzy at the thought of things the way they were then - back when she was just his friend, his crazy sidekick, a separate entity - because the idea of her not being so intertwined, so tangled up in his life is simply unthinkable. Even if it is more confusing now, and completely messed up. Even if it hurts more.

Maybe it's all _his_ fault. Because if they hadn’t broken up, she would never have wandered into the apartment he had rented at three in the morning, loudly proclaiming that they needed to get high because they had spent nine hours on set and damn it, they deserved it, and who was he to argue with her?

If she and that Brit had still been together, she never would have sunken down beside him on the couch, blowing rings of smoke through those perfect lips of hers, her legs draped over his knees.

She never would have turned to him and said, with her head tilted to the side, smiling yet surprisingly serious, “You know, I’m kind of in love with you Hutch.”

And he never would have said, already feeling like he was floating in the clouds, “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear that.” 

* * *

Perhaps the beginning was merely a combination of not-so-innocent touches and lingering gazes and joking remarks unconsciously laced with deeper meaning, interspersed over weeks and months. Just moments that when looked at separately, hardly meant anything at all, but when put together, formed a greater picture than either of them realised.

Whatever the case, she returned again the next night, this time at a more reasonable hour, telling him that Anchorman was showing on TV, and that if he didn’t watch it with her, she would disown him. He merely quipped that Sam would happily take him in, to which she actually growled (as much as a human really could) and told him that he was hers, and that if Sam _fucking_ Claflin tried to take him away, she would make sure ‘Finnick’ drowned on set tomorrow.

And then she threw her head back and laughed, and simply dragged him to the couch with her, not taking no for an answer. 

There were several things that frightened him about that moment – like how damn sexy she sounded making a noise like that and how he couldn’t stop replaying it in his head and how he didn’t mind at all being hers – but none more so than the fact that she had looked unflinchingly serious, like she really did think he belonged to her.

* * *

If someone didn't get Josh out of the water soon, he was going to lose a rather vital organ soon. And he wasn't talking about his toes or fingers either.

He shivered, running a hand through his damp hair to push it back off his forehead. A couple of metres away, Sam was talking to the director, both of them gesturing quite comically. He was going to turn to the nearest crew member and ask when they were going to start shooting again when he felt the pressure of a body on his back, and then arms winding around his neck.

"Sneak attack!"

"It's not a sneak attack when I know it's you Jen," he said wryly.

She peered over his shoulder, cupping his face with her cold, wet hands and turning him to look at her. "How did you know it was me?"

"Because the only other people in the water with us are members of the crew and Sam," he said with a grin. "Sam and I may be in the midst of a bromance but even we have boundaries."

Her eyes wandered away from his, and he suddenly had the feeling she was no longer with him. He was going to ask her what she was thinking when someone yelled out they were ready for the next take and she slid off of his back, absentmindedly murmuring as she glided through the water back to her position.

He could have sworn she was saying, "Boundaries."

* * *

They did get out of the water eventually. Their director Francis was so pleased with the takes that he delivered news that made Josh want to jump out of his skin - they could head back to their apartments, shower and rest for a couple of hours before they started shooting again around nine o'clock that night.

Jennifer collapsed on the sand bank, peering up at him through her lashes. "Can you carry me?"

"Get up lazybones," he said, nudging her with his foot.

"Please." She held her arms up to him, and with a sigh, he plucked her from the ground and threw her over his shoulder like he was a caveman. Jennifer squealed loudly, before going into a coughing fit, having choked on her laughter. He proceeded forward, holding her waist tight so she didn't slip. Her torso and head hung over his shoulder but he could see her waving to passerbys as they left.

Sam grinned at them as they passed and Francis laughed. "Make sure she gets back in one piece, we kinda need her."

In response, Jen swung an arm down and slapped Josh's butt.

He finally deposited her on the doorstep of her apartment. Her face was bright red with all of the blood that had rushed to her cheeks, her wet hair stuck to her scalp and he strangely thought she'd never looked better.

"So are you going to leave me in one piece?" she asked, her voice low.

Josh didn't know what to say so he just turned and left her there. He still needed a shower after all.

 

*******

 

He was falling into a deep sleep when someone started to hammer on his door. At first he thought he was just dreaming but when it didn't stop, he untangled himself from his sheets with a groan. He was ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind; after all, he still had at least three hours before he was needed on set. Didn't he get some sort of peace?

But when he opened the door and saw her standing there, he simply moved aside with a sigh to let her storm into the apartment.

She did. "He messaged me. "Just out of the blue. Said he missed me." She gritted her teeth and banged one hand on the counter. "I don't want to be one of those girls who obsesses over a boy, and gets caught up in what they say or don't say but....." Jennifer pressed her palms over her eyes, and then screamed, "Fuck!" She continued screaming, mixing swear words in with, "I hate him!" and "How can he do this to me?"

Josh just stood against the counter, because she didn't expect him to answer her. Finally, when she stopped, breathing heavily, her face flushed red, he said, "Are you done?"

She nodded, breathing heavily. No matter how much she insisted that it had been mutual - which it had been really - she missed Nick like crazy. He was her first real love, and letting go of him, agreeing to move on was one of the most difficult things she had ever done. They had made a promise to stay friendly but she had asked him for a few months of silence, while she focused on the movie and got used to life without him. And he hadn't been able to cut communication, and now she was thinking about him again, though he wondered if she had ever stopped.

 "You wanna come lie down with me?"

She nodded again, following him down the hallway to his bedroom. When he finally laid down and closed his eyes, Jennifer was curled up in a ball on the other side of the bed.

When he woke up, her head was on his chest and their legs were intertwined. He didn't wonder how that had happened, or why it felt so comfortable and natural. It was easier not to.

* * *

They finished shooting the next day at four a.m, staggering drunkenly towards their apartments, brains fried from lack of sleep. All Josh could think about was face-planting into his pillow. He didn’t even realise Jen was still beside him until her nimble fingers worked their way around his wrist just as he reached for his keys in his pocket. He looked down, only vaguely registering she was holding him, and looked up just in time to see the perfect pink lips he had admired so many times descending on his.

It was too quick, too brief, and when she pulled away, she was biting her bottom lip.

Josh opened his mouth to speak – he wasn’t sure what he was going to say but if he got any words out, it would be a miracle – but she simply put a finger against his lips, quieting him. “Don’t ruin it,” she whispered.

So he blinked instead, and she was gone.

* * *

She didn’t make any more late night visits to his apartment after that.

He would be a liar if he said he didn’t wait up for her.

It wasn’t like she avoided him or anything. They still ate together, along with whoever wasn’t needed on set, whether it was Liam or Sam or Jena. And she was still as loud and wild as ever, still slapped his back until he choked on his sushi and made stupid jokes that were so unfunny that he and everyone else laughed. But things were different, just a slight change in the atmosphere. If they were alone, they couldn't maintain eye contact for too long. They had broken an unspoken rule, crossed a line in their friendship and neither of them were sure how to go back.

A week later, he found her in his trailer, sitting on his bed, fingers knotted in his sheets. She looked up at him, smiling like he was one of her favourite people in the world and it made his stomach turn.

"Hey," she said quietly. "I've been waiting for you."

"You have?" he said, and he wasn't sure why he sounded so odd. "What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to see you." She patted a spot next to her and he dutifully sat, wondering if she had come to explain her behaviour, tell him that she had just been lonely because of the break-up with Nick, that all of the things she had said and done the last few weeks were all just a result of her missing _him._

Instead, she just said, "Josh."

"Jennifer." He narrowed his eyes at her. "We've established that those are our names."

She laughed. "I was just checking."

He waited for her to say more but she didn't. "We haven't yet learned to communicate with our hands so if you wanna speak to me, you might have to use your -"

She reached forward suddenly, sitting on her haunches and grabbed him by the neck, smacking their mouths together.

When she pulled back, Josh felt numb. "You kissed me," he whispered, with no idea why he was whispering. It just felt like this huge secret, this forbidden moment they weren't supposed to share. "You kissed me."

And then he was on his back, and she was straddling his hips, flicking his teeth with her tongue, trying to gain entry into his mouth. His hands were sliding up her top, skimming her stomach, digging into her hips. She was kissing him. _She_ was kissing _him._

But no matter how good it felt - and God, did it feel good - to have her on top of him, kissing him like she sorely needed him, he couldn't shut his mind off, wondering what had brought this on, if it meant anything, so much so he felt like he needed to stop her. Who on earth though would turn down Jennifer Lawrence?

The answer is: a very stupid, foolish young man by the name of Josh Hutcherson.

He pulled away, clasping both of her hands in his and asked, “What are we doing?”

She barely moved an inch, still resting lightly on top of him. “I don’t know,” she replied. “You’re my friend Josh.”

“You’re mine too. Except friends don’t kiss.”

“Some do,” she said slyly. “Some do more than that.”

“Do you want to be those kinds of friends?” he asked.

“Do you?” He’d never wanted anything more.  

* * *

So they set guidelines. Or more specifically, she set guidelines. He just sat there, nodding and wondering when she would stop talking so he could kiss her again.

Eventually she decreed the only thing off limit was the act of sex itself. That was the line, the point of no return, the boundary they could not cross, which was more than okay with Josh. If he had any brains, he would have said no. After all, she had just come out of a serious relationship, he was between girlfriends and they were good friends. Why did they want to ruin that by getting partly physical?

But Josh made his decision with something other than his brain.

If anyone noticed anything different between them, they didn't say. He noticed Liam watching them a couple of times but he never said anything to either of them so Josh assumed they were in the clear. It should have been awkward but everything came surprisingly easy. It started slowly, just sneaking kisses when no one was looking, sitting his hands low on her hips. Of course she was the one who made the first real move, sliding his hands up her top until they were cupping her through her bra. Josh inhaled sharply, trying to convince himself that this was indeed real.

"You okay?" she asked, subtly trying to move under his hands.

"Just trying to control myself," he said back with an uneasy laugh. "You're kind of -"

"Annoying? Intimidating? Dumb?"

"Fucking sexy," he said, and he was incredibly satisfied to see a light blush stain her cheeks. "Are you blushing?"

"No!"

"Aww, Jen, that's absolutely adorable, you -"

And then she cupped the front of his jeans with a smirk, and he almost stopped breathing.

**********

 

It was hard to decide what he liked most about their arrangement. The kissing was good. But touching was better. On a normal day, t was hard to get more than two words into a conversation with Jennifer, not that he minded too much. But he found that if touched her in all the right places, he rendered her speechless.

But one night, he was lying in between her legs, his hands poised on the edge of her zipper, debating. It wasn't like he had never been with girls in every way possible before. But this was Jennifer. He didn't want to disappoint her and he had to admit his nerves were getting to him. And her constant rambling wasn't helping.

"Josh, you okay?"

"Give me a minute," he murmured back, his hands clenching over her stomach.

He had the sudden mental image of Nick in this position and his resolve suddenly grew tenfold.

_Fuck it._

"Look if you're not ready," her jeans went down to her ankles, "We can just keep making out or something or," he yanked her underwear off next, "Or we could -"

Josh dipped his tongue between her thighs. She practically yelped at the sudden intrusion and he grinned up at her. "Stop talking Jen."

"Sensing I should," she said with a shaky laugh, her head falling back onto her pillow.

 

***********

 

But then he realised what he loved the most was the fact that she was still his Jen. She still annoyed him, tried to prank him, made fun of him, rustled his yellow 'Peeta' hair. He still chased her around the set, yanking on her 'Katniss' braid, and they still got told off by everyone for acting like five year olds.

Although, if he was truthful, he had to admit there was something wonderful about her moaning his name as she came.

* * *

Admittedly it became a little difficult once filming ended, especially when they both went off to their next respective projects. They made do with phone calls and jetting out on day-trips but thank god for the endless trail of appearances and promotions they had to do for Catching Fire. She had just arrived at his house a few days before they set off for Comic-Con when his computer chimed. Someone was skyping him, and no matter how much she pleaded him to just ignore it, nipping at his neck, licking along his jaw, he crossed over to his desk and accepted the chat invitation, much to her dismay.  
  
Liam’s scruffy face appeared on screen. “Josh!” he hollered in his broad Aussie accent. “You little man!”

“Liam, you Australian behemoth,” Josh greeted back, grinning. "How are you?"

They quickly got to catching up and had several minutes quickly passed. Honestly, he had completely forgotten Jennifer was even there when he felt a hand snake up his leg. He jumped, so much so even Liam noticed.

“You alright?”

Josh laughed shakily. Damn that woman. She had crawled under the desk to purposely torment him. “Yeah, just Driver licking my feet. Scared the crap out of me.” At that moment, Jen already had some of his bare skin exposed, and licked at his hipbone. He fought not to jump again, especially when she managed to slide his underwear down to his ankles and inched him into her mouth. Thankfully, Liam carried most of their conversation, talking mostly about what he’d been up to, his relationship drama and how excited he was to see everyone again. Josh just nodded and made noises of agreement or dissent, hoping Liam didn’t notice how weird he was acting. It was particularly hard when Jen licked from the tip of his cock to the base before pumping him furiously with a closed fist, but he just put his own hand into his mouth and tried to smile instead of groan.

Finally Liam said he had to go, and Josh nodded again, feeling him impending release in the pit of his stomach. He thought he was in the clear. But then Liam smiled, somewhat peculiarly, as he added, “Oh, and tell Jen to give me a call. That is if she can get your dick out of her mouth long enough to talk.”

The screen went black. Jennifer laughed around him.

He came a second later.

* * *

He was fine with their boundaries, he really was.

Except he wasn’t. Like any boy, a little just wasn’t enough to stop him wanting her. He wanted her completely, wanted no one on earth to doubt that he had her in a way no one else did. One afternoon, he was finally reduced to begging as her hands reached into his jeans.

“Please! Just…need to be inside….you. Just once. Once.”

Jen stopped what she was doing and looked up at him with a puzzled expression on her face. He silently started to curse himself. She was going to end it with him, wasn’t she? He couldn’t have been happy with what he had, could he? He had to ruin it, didn’t –

“Okay.”

Josh swore his body had gone into shock at that one word. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she affirmed. And then she began stripping off her clothes, one item at a time. She had to tug at his hands for him to move, and he tore at his own garments with such furore she laughed. When there was nothing left between them, she climbed into his lap and gently lowered herself onto him. A stream of odd noises that might have been words released from Josh’s mouth, his hands reaching behind him to grab the headboard, because he had a feeling that if he grabbed any part of her, he would probably leave bruises. Jen’s face was screwed up in utter concentration the whole way down. When their hips were flush, she slowly rocked once, twice, against him as he watched, lips parted in awe. Then she stilled, threw her head back and gasped loudly, like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the world.

And then she climbed up off of him.

Josh blinked. It took him several moments to realise something was wrong because he was still blissed out on that first moment of satisfaction. Then he saw Jennifer sitting between his legs, her elbows perched on her thighs, watching him cautiously. He realised what she had done – given him exactly what he wanted in the most literal and cruel way possible. And he lost it.

“I’m done! Fucking done! Can’t do this anymore.” He was already trying to move her out the way when she darted forward and wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock. He groaned. If she had been looking for a tactic to stop him in his tracks, she sure had succeeded. Her eyes found his as she leaned back.

“You agreed,” she whispered, sounding sorrier than he had ever heard her. “Friends. And then some. This was the some. I can't -” she choked back what sounded like a sob. "I can't do anything more than that. You're my friend and I can't lose you Josh. Everything will get messy if we don't have some line to stop us from being -"

"- in a relationship?"

Jennifer squeezed her eyes shut, clutching at his thighs hard. He ran a hand idly through her dark locks until she opened them. "Everything's already messy," he told her.

"But I like this kind of mess," she says, the corner of her mouth twitching into a smile. "We're a good mess." Then she turned sober again. "Can you accept that?"

He swallowed heavily, contemplating. She had given him more than he had ever asked for. They were still great friends and they were never going to stop being great friends because they weren’t in a relationship. They couldn’t break up, or suddenly decide they didn’t want to be around the other anymore. He could live without the stuff he didn’t get because of the stuff he did get. Even if she didn't want to fully commit, or put labels on them; even if she wanted one last piece of distance between them so she wouldn't get hurt like last time, it was okay. It had to be. There was no going back now. It was hurting him now but it would kill him to be without her.

Finally he relaxed back into the bed, nodding and she smiled so wide he felt like his chest could burst.

“I told you Josh,” she murmured against his stomach. "Boundaries."

And then her head descended once more.


End file.
